NI 6161 Richard Blackford Not In Our Time Bournemouth Symphony Chorus & Youth Chorus Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Paul Nilon Tenor • Stephen Gadd Baritone Gavin Carr Conductor

Not In Our Time world premiere. Cheltenham, September 11th 2011 Photograph: Ed Salter

www.blackford.co.uk www.wyastone.co.uk

Richard Blackford The BSO tours worldwide, performing perform at smaller and more unusual in venues including Carnegie Hall venues across the region, whilst the BSO’s and the Lincoln Center, New York; contemporary music ensemble Kokoro Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Musikverein is at the forefront of commissioning and Not In Our Time and Konzerthaus, Vienna; Rudolfinum, performing new works by. BSO musicians Prague; and Philharmonie, Berlin; also take part in an extensive array of Paul Nilon Tenor and makes regular UK appearances at projects which reach more than 125,000 Royal Festival Hall, Barbican and Royal children and adults every year. Stephen Gadd Baritone Albert Hall, London; Symphony Hall, The BSO has been making recordings and Birmingham and Bridgwater Hall, broadcasts since the 1920s, and now has Bournemouth Symphony Chorus & Youth Chorus Manchester. The BSO is dedicated to over 300 titles to its name. It continues providing orchestral music across the to release several CDs every year making Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra South and West of England and each it one of the most recorded orchestras in year gives upwards of 130 concerts from Gavin Carr Conductor Britain today. Radio broadcasts enable its home base at Lighthouse, Poole to the BSO to continually reach new and Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Cheltenham, wider audiences; a continuing partnership Weymouth, Exeter, Bristol, Basingstoke with BBC Radio 3 ensures regular UK and Winchester. broadcasts of live BSO concerts and this Taking music beyond the concert hall lies together with countless plays on Classic Rehearsal accompanist & organ: Christopher Dowie Organ supplied by Abinger Organs at the heart of the BSO’s commitment to FM allows over thirteen million people to Recorded at Lighthouse, Poole, 18th & 19th September 2011 engaging with new audiences. Through enjoy the BSO’s performances each year. Producer: Andrew Walton • Engineer: Mike Clements the pioneering education and community Executive Producers: Adrian Farmer & Antony Smith www.bsolive.com department - BSO Resonate - ensembles Cover design / Layout: www.doubletakedesign.co.uk ‘Not In Our Time’ is published by Novello & Co. This release made under licence to Wyastone Estate Limited P & © 2011 2 23 Bournemouth PART I INFERNO Symphony 1) Prelude 2.31 Youth Chorus 2) George W. Bush (New York, September 16th. 2001) 2.36 3) Adam Gadahn and Ayman Al-Zawahiri (Al Jazeera 2001) 2.21 The Chorus started life in 1997 as the 4) Poem: “Not In Our Time” by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) 1.30 Dorset Youth Choir, as the result of a The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra joint project between the Dorset Music was formed in 1893 and throughout its PART II THE FIRST CRUSADE Service, the Bournemouth Symphony illustrious history it has worked with some 5) Pope Urban II (Clermont 1095 AD) 2.48 Chorus and the BSO. Performances of the finest composers, conductors and 6) Hymn: Vexilla Regis 4.15 of works such as Carmina Burana, musicians in the world including Elgar, 7) Abul-Muzzafar Al-Abyurdi (1099 AD) 4.05 Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Bartok, Sibelius, Holst, Stravinsky, Vaughan Dream, Anthony Powers’ Zlata’s Diary, Williams and Sir Thomas Beecham. More PART III THE FALL OF JERUSALEM Berlioz Requiem and participating in the recently the BSO has worked with eminent 8) Fulcher of Chartres (12th. century chronicler) 2.44 first performance of Richard Blackford’s British composers Sir Michael Tippett, Sir 9) Hymn: Lucis Largitor Splendide 4.47 cantata Voices of Exile, given in Poole and John Tavener and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. at the Royal Festival Hall in London, have PART IV THE FALLING MAN The dynamic Kirill Karabits is the present provided wonderful opportunities for the 10) Tom Junod (New York, 2003) 6.12 Principal Conductor of the BSO Kirill – a young singers. In September 2004, the role he will occupy until at least 2016. He Chorus was renamed the Bournemouth PART V AFTERMATH continues the fine tradition of esteemed Symphony Youth Chorus (under the aegis past Principal Conductors, since founder 11) Chorus: “How Long, O Lord?” (Book of Habbakuk: the Bible) 3.20 of the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus), 12) Poem fragment, “I do not know” (Anon, poet of Ma’arra 1098 AD) 3.40 Sir Dan Godfrey, who have included Sir and is an important feature of the local Charles Groves, Constantin Silvestri, Rudolf musical scene for young people, offering PART VI GOD’S WILL Schwarz, Paavo Berglund, Andrew Litton, the opportunity to participate in choral Yakov Kreizberg and Marin Alsop. 13) Mohammed Ben Zeky (following Saladdin’s re-capture of Jerusalem in 1187 AD) 5.56 performances at the highest level. The 14) Barack Hussain Obama (Cairo University 2009) 7.20 Chorus’s Founder-Director is Elizabeth Nayler, who continues her work to bring TOTAL PLAYING TIME 54.13 the joy of singing to the rising generation.

22 3 Programme note The piece opens with a rising cello theme leading to an orchestral cataclysm - the reverberation of the collapse of the Twin Towers and the shock waves it sent around the world. From it emerge the soft, measured tones of George Bush, whose references to “Crusade” and “God is not neutral” also sent, in their turn, shock waves around the Arab world. Not In Our Time takes extracts from speeches of the last two American presidents as bookends. Obama’s Cairo University speech about Dream of Gerontius and The Music-makers, reconciliation is the antithesis of Bush’s evangelical call to arms and to demonise the “evildoers”. Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, David The primary texts deliberately juxtapose speeches and poems on holy war and divinely sanctioned Fanshawe’s highly acclaimed African violence one thousand years apart, from The First Crusade, to 9/11. However, I reprise the poem The Chorus was founded in 1911 by “Not in our time, O Lord, the ploughshare for the sword” by the poet Hilda Doolittle four Sanctus, Richard Blackford’s Mirror of Sir Dan Godfrey as the Bournemouth times: first a capella in sorrowful response to the militant Arab reaction to President Bush; by the Perfection and major works by Finzi and Childrens’ Chorus in response to Pope Urban II’s call for the First Crusade; in commentary on Municipal Choir, giving as its inaugural Vaughan Williams. Their recording of AbuI-Muzzafar’s poignant vision of the aftermath of war; and finally in passionate response to the concerts two performances of the concert Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, under Andrew terrifying call for Holy War in the sermon given at Jerusalem after Saladin’s victory in 1187AD. version of Merrie England, conducted by Litton, won a Grammy Award in the The universality of H.D’s poem is reminiscent of the Passion chorale in which the text is repeated Sir Edward German its composer. In 1979 US for Best Choral Recording. Gavin but its context and musical setting is different. the Chorus came under the umbrella of Carr was appointed Chorus Master in The result of Pope Urban II’s launch of the First Crusade at Clermont in 1095AD was the the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. September 2009, and under his direction, unification of the warring princes and knights of Europe in a common purpose - to slaughter This change saw a major expansion the Chorus travelled to Vienna in June Muslims, sanctioned in the name of God, for the so-called liberation of Jerusalem. The cry in their repertoire and performance 2010, and gave two very successful of the two thousand present, “God Wills It”, mirrors the cry for Holy War in the Sermon at patterns, with concerts now taking place concerts. A regular touring programme Jerusalem by Mohammed Ben Zeky ninety-two years later. In my work, Urban’s call to arms in many of the national venues visited has taken the Chorus to Switzerland, launches a dissonant musical/military setting of the Crusader Hymn “O Crux ave spes unica” by the BSO, from Truro to Swansea to Florida, Israel, Italy, Belgium, Paris, Prague with percussion and blazing trumpets setting the scene for the immense throng that journeyed Manchester, including in London; the and Brno. to the Holy Land under the banner of the Cross. By contrast the poet AbuI-Muzzafar’s fragile Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival lament about the ravaging effects of war is overwhelmed by the Crusader juggernaut hymn. Part Not In Our Time was commmissioned by Hall and the Barbican. In addition, an III chronicles the Fall of Jerusalem at which, almost incredibly, the blood-spattered Crusaders, the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus as extensive programme of major recordings fresh from slaughter, pile into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to worship Jesus. In choosing part of their centenary celebrations. has taken place. Among these are A the resplendant Latin hymn “Lucis largitor splendide” I try to evoke the magnificence and power www.bschorus.co.uk of Christian devotion in a sustained choral sequence in ritornello form. The sequence is one of Mass of Life by Frederick Delius, Elgar’s several contrasts of spiritual sublimity with appalling violence that I noticed during my research. At the centre of the work, Part IV, the writer Tom Junod describes the anonymous man falling from 4 21 the World Trade Centre, a man who seemed to embody humanity’s fall that day. Divided, muted Stephen Gadd - Baritone strings play a falling chromatic sequence, as if time is in a state of suspension, while the tenor soloist describes the inevitability of the un-named man’s ten second journey to his destruction. Born in Berkshire, Stephen Gadd won the Kathleen Ferrier “Aftermath” explores the experience of the individual affected by warfare. The Chorus, as if Memorial Scholarship, and was a finalist in the inaugural tormented by the unbreakable cycle of violence, asks in a passage from the Book of Habakkuk in Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition. In opera, he has the Bible, “How long, O Lord? I cry for help - but you do not listen!” This section is the closest appeared at the Baden Baden, Glyndebourne, Lucerne to a personal statement about my ambivalence towards the God who does not intervene in war and Salzburg Festivals, and with the Royal Opera, English and is marked allegro furioso. In a contrasting section the children sing a fragment of the poet National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Grange Park Opera, from the town of Ma’arra, completely destroyed by the Crusaders. The question of God’s will, so confidently attested by the warmongers, is unanswered by the Chorus. In Part VI the call for holy the Netherlands Opera, Den Norske Opera, the Paris war that began with Pope Urban II is now taken up by Mohammed Ben Zeky following Saladin’s Opera, the Opéra de Metz, the Opéras de Montpellier, capture of Jerusalem in 1187AD. His cry to “Purify the rest of the earth of those nations with the Opéra de Nantes, the Opéra national du Rhin and the whom God and his messenger are angry” prompts the Chorus’ final, desperate plea of “Not in Opéra de Rouen. our time, O Lord”. Both the tenor and baritone protagonists unite for the first time to sing words from Barack Obama’s Cairo address in 2009, in which he challenges young people of all faiths to Concert highlights have included The Creation with the Ulster Orchestra under Jan “re-imagine the world”. In citing the peaceful messages of The Quran, The Torah and The Bible Schultsz; the Nelson Mass with the RSNO under Walter Weller; Mahler Symphony he is effectively pleading for an end of the Crusader mentality in the hope that “The Holy land No. 8 with the CBSO under Andris Nelsons and the Philharmonia Orchestra under of the three great faiths is the land of peace God intended it to be.” The role of the Chorus is Lorin Maazel; Elijah with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Rafael multifold - it is the vox populi muttering assent with George Bush and Pope Urban II, it is the Frühbeck de Burgos; and Tristan und Isolde with the London Philharmonic Orchestra Greek Chorus standing outside the drama with HD’s eponymous poem, it is a chorus of warrior under Vladimir Jurowski and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen. crusaders, a chorus of abandoned Arab children, a contemporary chorus responding in 2009 to Barack Obama’s message of hope and reconciliation. The sense of perceived conflict between His recordings and broadcasts include A War Requiem with the Southern Sinfonia Christianity and Islam is defined by the distribution of the Christian texts to the tenor and the conducted by Simon Over (Classic fM); Mozart Coronation Mass and Vesperae Muslim texts to the baritone soloists, whom I have asked to stand deliberately apart, either side solemnes de confessore and Dioclesian with The English Concert under Trevor Pinnock of the conductor. For the final section, Barack Obama’s speech to Cairo University in 2009, the (DGG); Sonora La Fanciulla del West from the Netherlands Opera and Melot Tristan soloists sing together, for the first and only time, an octave apart and in unison, in symbolic unity. und Isolde from Glyndebourne (Opus Arte); Prince John Ivanhoe with BBC NOW Not In Our Time was first performed on September 11th 2011 in the Town Hall, Cheltenham under David Lloyd-Jones (Chandos); Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols under the auspices of the Cheltenham Festival and repeated at Lighthouse Poole on September with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Hilary Davan Wetton (Naxos); and 13th. It is dedicated to Carolyn Date, Manager and Secretary of the Bournemouth Symphony Lysiart Euryanthe from the Beethoven Easter Festival, Warsaw, with the Orchestra of Chorus. Movement 9 is dedicated to Gavin Carr. Polish Radio under Łukasz Borowicz (PRCD). Richard Blackford, 18th July 2011

20 5 PART I: INFERNO and Israel under Ivor Bolton, Britten’s War Requiem and Serenade for Tenor, 1) Orchestral Prelude - cataclysm. September 2001 - following Horn and Strings with the Hallé, the the attack on the World Trade Centre, New York.The Messiah with The Sixteen and Harry reverberation of the collapse of the Twin Towers sends shock Christophers, Beethoven Symphony waves around the world. No 9 with the BBC Philharmonic 2) GEORGE W. BUSH and Gianandrea Noseda, the chamber version of Das Lied von der Erde at the TENOR This is a new kind of evil. The American people are beginning to understand this crusade. This war on terror is going to take a while. Wigmore Hall with the LPO, Sir Mark Elder and Alice Coote, and Janacek: CHORUS …a new kind of evil…this…Crusade… The Diary of One Who Disappeared at the TENOR But I can assure the American people it is time for us to win the first war of the Bath International Festival and Joanna twenty-first century. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty have always been at war, MacGregor. and we know that God is not neutral between them. Paul Nilon - TENOR He has worked for most of the CHORUS God is not neutral… major British opera companies Paul Nilon is established as one of and companies abroad include the (SOURCE. President George Bush September 16th 2001 and Address to Congress) Europe’s outstanding lyric tenors Bayerische Staatsoper, Netherlands in a wide repertoire ranging from Opera, San Francisco Opera and Dallas Monteverdi to Britten. 3) ADAM GADHAN AND AYMAN AL ZAWAHIRI Opera. Recent and future operatic BARITONE Bush, you thought you would be remembered by history as the president who He has an active concert career with engagements include the title role in a waged a crusade against the Muslims. Instead you will go down in history as the highlights including Bach’s B Minor new production of Idomeneo for English president who sent the United States on its death march towards destruction. The Mass with the LPO, Mozart Requiem National Opera, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater Crusades against us have never stopped. They have only differed by their form and and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and magnitude through the ages. Peri and Handel Susanna, all with the Honnegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher with CHORUS The crusades against us have never stopped. Continuing through the ages.... Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the London Symphony Orchestra. Tippett A Child of Our Time with Paul Nilon has appeared on a number BARITONE By the grace of Allah, we shall strike back hard. This year, next year, the year the Northern Sinfonia, Beethoven’s of notable recordings for Opera Rara after that, till the last crusader goes home, waving a white flag or in a flag-covered Missa Solemnis with the BBC National casket. We will target you at home and abroad, just as you target us at home and including Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais, Orchestra of Wales, Handel L’Allegro abroad, until and unless you heed our demands. Stop the crusade and leave the Mayr’s Medea in Corinto, Rossini’s with the Ensemble Orchestral de Muslims alone. Ricciardo et Zoriade and most recently Paris, Handel Solomon in Florence (SOURCE: Adam Gadhan and Ayman Al Zawahiri, Al Jazira. 2001) Ermione. 6 19 4) POEM: “H.D” CHORUS Not in our time, O lord, Gavin Carr The ploughshare for the sword.

Gavin Carr was a choral scholar at Not in our time, the knife, Sated wth blood and life, King’s College, Cambridge, before commencing an international career To trim the barren vine; as a baritone. In 2001 he took up No grape-leaf for the thorn, conducting alongside his singing No vine-flower for the crown; career, and has quickly established Not in our time, O King, a strong reputation. He made his The voice to quell the re-gathering operatic debut with the acclaimed Thundering storm. production of La Tragédie de Carmen (SOURCE. Hilda Doolittle (“H.D.”) 1912-1944). Reproduced with permission. at the 2007 Wexford Festival, which was nominated for an Irish Times National Arts Award. He has worked PART II: THE FIRST CRUSADE with the Bournemouth Symphony 5) POPE URBAN II Chorus since 2009. In 2011 he was TENOR A race absolutely alien to God has invaded the land of the Christians, has reduced appointed the founder-director of the the people with sword, rape and flame. I, or rather the Lord, beseech you to new Wexford Festival Opera Chorus, persuade people of all rank to carry aid to those Christians and destroy that vile and an associate conductor of the race. Moreover Christ commands it Philharmonia Chorus. He is Associate CHILDREN (softly) Not in our time, O Lord Conductor of the Bath Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus Master of TENOR Undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, assured of the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. South West Festival Chorus. He lists the English Chamber Orchestra and God wills it! The Parley of Instruments amongst CHORUS God wills it! recent débuts. Undertake this journey [etc.]

18 7 TENOR Let this then be your war-cry in combat, Because this word is given to you by God. CHORUS By God! TENOR Let this one cry be raised by the soldiers of God. It is the will of God! God wills it! CHORUS: God wills it! Richard Blackford It is the will of God!

(SOURCE: Pope Urban II 1095AD Council of Clermont) Not In Our Time is Richard Blackford’s third major choral and orchestral Orchestral march. Pounding war drums, blazing trumpets - work. His Voices of Exile (commissioned by the Bournemouth Symphony the first mighty Crusader army on the move. Chorus in 2001) explores the experience of refugees and people displaced 6) HYMN by war, and Mirror of Perfection (settings of poems of St Francis of Assisi) CHORUS Vexilla regis prodeunt, Fulget crucis mysterium, explores man’s relationship to God. Two of his theatre works, King (based on Qua vita mortem pertulit the life of Martin Luther King) and Follow My Leader (a satire about the Iraq Et morta vitam protulit. war), as well as his film collaborations with poet Tony Harrison: Prometheus, CHILDREN Abroad the royal banners fly A Maybe Day In Kazakhstan and The Shadow of Hiroshima are also And bear the gleaming Cross on high explorations of the themes of human and spiritual conflict that culminate That Cross whereon Life suffered death in Not In Our Time. The work is commissioned by the Bournemouth And gave us life with dying breath. Symphony Chorus for their Centenary in 2011. Richard Blackford is O Crux ave, spes unica, Hoc Passionis tempore published by Novello. Piis adauge gratiam, Reisque dele crimina. For further information please visit: www.blackford.co.uk Hail, Cross, of hope the most sublime, Now a mournful Passion time, Grant to the just increase of grace And every sinner’s crime efface Deus vult! God wills it! 8 17 7) ABUL-MUZZAFAR AL-ABYURDI BARITONE We mingle blood with flowing tears and there is no room for pity. Shedding tears is man’s worst weapon when swords stir up the embers of war. CHORUS (in the distance) Vexilla regis prodeunt [etc.] Deus vult! Deus vult! BARITONE Must the foreigners feed on our shame, while you trail behind like men whose world is at peace? When blood has been spilt, when sweet girls must for shame hide their lovely faces in their hands, then this is war! This is war! Reprise of Orchestral March at full strength. CHORUS Vexilla regis prodeunt [etc.] BARITONE The infidel’s sword is naked in his hand, ready to be buried in men’s necks and skulls. We have mingled blood with flowing tears, and there is no room left for pity. (SOURCE: Abul-Muzzafar Al-Abyurdi, poet 1099AD) The Orchestral March and Latin Hymn build to a terrifying climax. Sudden, hushed tremolo strings with flute obligato. CHILDREN Not in our time, O Lord, The ploughshare for the sword.

16 9 PART III: THE FALL OF JERUSALEM (1099AD) 14) BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA TENOR/ Human history has often been a record of nations and tribes, and yes, 8) FULCHER OF CHARTRES BARITONE religions, subjugating one another in pursuit of their own interests. Yet in this TENOR The defenders fought against our men with amazing courage, casting fire new age, such attitudes are self defeating. and stones. Thereafter death was present and sudden for many on both sides. It’s a story with a simple truth: violence is a dead end. To shoot rockets at The defenders fled along the walls and through the city. Our men went after sleeping children, to blow up old women on a bus is neither a sign of courage them, killing them, cutting them down as far as Solomon’s Temple. There was or power. Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All such massacre that our men were wading up to their ankles in enemy blood. of us have to work for the day when the Holy Land of the three great faiths They dragged the dead Saracens out in front of the gates and piled them up is the place of peace God intended it to be. in mounds as big as houses. No one had ever seen or heard of such slaughter of pagans, for they burned on pyres like pyramids. No one save God alone To young people of every faith, in every country, you, more than anyone, you knows how many there were. have the ability to re-imagine the world, to re-make the world. The Holy Quran tells us: Rejoicing from excessive gladness, our men came to worship at the Sepulchre of our Saviour Jesus. CHORUS “O mankind! We created you male and female; and we have made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know one another.” Rejoicing and weeping [etc.] TENOR/ th (SOURCE: Fulcher of Chartres - 12 century chronicler) BARITONE The Talmud tells us: A blaze of orchestral sound as sunlight and a thousand CHORUS “The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace.” candles illuminate the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in TENOR/ Jerusalem. BARITONE The Holy Bible tells us: CHORUS “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” TENOR/ BARITONE The people of the world can live in peace. We know that is God’s vision. Now it must be our work here on Earth. CHORUS That is God’s vision. That is God’s will, Now it must be our work here on Earth. (SOURCE: President Barack Obama’s speech to students from Cairo University 2009)

10 15 PART VI: GOD’S WILL 9) HYMN 13) MOHAMMED BEN ZEKY CHORUS Lucis largitor splendide, BARITONE Praise God, who has raised Islam to glory; who rules worldly things by His Cuius serene lumine will, who made easy for you the deliverance of this city we had lost to the Post lapsa noctis tempora infidels. The gates of Heaven have been opened for this conquest; its splendour Dies refusus panditur: has cast a light which has penetrated the deepest darkness: the angels who Tu verus mundi Lucifer, approach the Divine Majesty rejoice; the eyes of the prophets behold it with Non is, qui parvi sideris, joy. Venturae lucis nuntius Did you think that your swords of steel, your horses, your untiring Augusto fulget lumine: perseverance have gained you this victory? No, it was the will of God. Sed toto sole clarior, From Him alone came your victory. Lux ipse totus et dies, The Holy War! The Holy War! Interna nostri pectoris Help God and He will help you; Iluminans praecordia. Hold to God and He will hold to you; O Glorious Father of the Light Remember Him and He will remember you; From whose effulgence, calm and bright Purify the earth of those nations Soon as the hours of night are fled With whom God and His messenger are angry. The brilliance of the dawn is shed: God is great! Thou art the dark world’s truest ray: If God helps you, you have no conqueror to fear. No radiance of that lesser day (SOURCE: Mohammed Ben Zeky; Sermon at Jerusalem, That heralds in the morn begun, given the first Friday after Saladin’s victory 1187AD) The advent of our darker sun: CHORUS (urgent, pleading) But brighter than its noontide gleam Not in our time, O Lord, [etc.] Thyself full daylight’s fullest beam. The inmost mansions of our breast, Thou by Thy grace illuminest.

14 11 PART IV: THE FALLING MAN (9/11) PART V: AFTERMATH

Very soft, abstract orchestral introduction. Time and motion 11) in a state of suspension. CHORUS How long, O Lord? I cry for help - but you do not listen! I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why 10) TOM JUNOD must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; strife, and TENOR He departs this earth like an arrow. If he were not falling he might contention around me. well be flying. How long, O Lord? [etc.] He appears comfortable in the grip of unimaginable motion. He does not (SOURCE: Habakkuk 1:2-3) appear intimidated by gravity’s divine suction or what awaits him. He is perfectly vertical, in accord with the lines of the buildings behind him. 12) He is the essential element in the creation of a new flag, a banner composed CHILDREN I do not know if my native land is a grazing land for wild beasts, or still my entirely of steel bars shining in the sun. home. (SOURCE: Anon poet of Ma’arra 1098AD) He is fifteen seconds past 9.41am Eastern Standard Time, accelerating at thirty-two feet per second per second, as though he were a missile, a spear, CHORUS We are shattered by Fate as though we were glass. Never, bent on attaining his own end. Never our shards are gathered together. (SOURCE: Tom Junod, Esquire, September 7th 2003) (SOURCE: Abu’l Ala al Ma’ari 11th century) How long, O Lord? [etc.]

12 13 Richard Blackford - Not In OurTime Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / CARR NI 6161

The Telegraph The Michael White Michael Emphatically it is.” fearlessly, intuitively, intuitively, fearlessly, dramatic, it’s a huge a huge it’s dramatic, to think: is this for us? is this to think: but with confidence in with confidence but his own craft. Which is Which craft. his own Time is a terrific piece sing and a grateful one. sing and a grateful one. Blackford has proceeded has proceeded Blackford considerable. Not In Our considerable. cause choirs and audiences whose textual content may may whose textual content “Fiercely paced and vividly paced and vividly “Fiercely Youth Chorus Youth

2011 Wyastone Estate Limited 2011 Wyastone Estate Limited 2011 Made in the UK by Wyastone EstateWyastone Limited Made in the UK by P © www.wyastone.co.uk Stephen Gadd Baritone Stephen Gadd

Gavin CarrGavin Conductor Richard Blackford Richard Bournemouth Orchestra Symphony • Nilon Tenor Paul Bournemouth Chorus Symphony & Not In Our Time Our In Not Michael McManus Gramophone “Not In Our Time is a Time is “Not In Our a paean of and to hope, of shared proclamation above humanity and, a great oratorio for all, This the peacemakers. but is a serious piece, rewarding. infinitely the more Frankly, it, people who listen to and happier the better, at peace with itself more will be.” the world

Richard Blackford - Not In OurTime Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / CARR NI 6161